


Shower Crisis

by ihmesusi



Category: Gundam 00
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5531267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihmesusi/pseuds/ihmesusi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Showers on the Ptolemaios stop working one day and Ian isn't on board. The gallant Irish gentleman to the rescue?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shower Crisis

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a birthday present to a friend years ago. She received it quite well, and after editing it a little, I decided to archive it here, where I hope to have all my good writings eventually.

It was the seventh day of June. The time was around four hundred. The water-recycling plumbing on Ptolemaios wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. When Tieria, who as usual either woke up before everyone else or didn’t sleep in the first place, activated the shower tab it only rewarded him with a lurching sound instead of water. He closed the tab and tried activating it again but this time, he didn’t even get the sound for his effort. The Virtue pilot stared at the tab frustratedly and huffed, giving up trying and instead returned to the dressing rooms for his hand comm. and reported the error in sharp, chosen words.

The day was problematic, as Ian Vashti, the ship’s resident mechanic, happened to not be on board. Sumeragi was sad – she actually had the decency to look as if she felt as bad as Tieria did for not getting to shower in the morning – to inform the crew the error could perhaps not be seen to before Ian returned. The announcement was made while everyone was at the mess, eating breakfast.

“What does it imply if the moment the mechanic isn’t here, things start not working?” Tieria spat out scathingly. 

Setsuna kept eating, undisturbed. Lockon and Allelujah exchanged looks as if to decide whether or not to put forth their thoughts on the matter. 

“That we have bad luck?” Lockon offered then, quite jovially. 

“That the universe plots against us?” Allelujah said sounding a tad more depressed than usual. 

It was obvious the two weren’t taking him seriously, and so Tieria left the company with another huff. As he was reaching for the door he heard Lockon offer consolation to the Kyrios pilot.

“This sort of shit can just happen sometimes you know. The Universe doesn’t give a damn about us, Allelujah. It’s only a few days without water, not the end of the world.” 

Tieria frowned at that but chose not to comment on his way out. Tieria could see nothing positive in the situation. Had anyone asked his opinion, he would've claimed Lockon’s code-name should’ve been Uselessly Positive instead.

 

It was a disaster unlike any Tieria had yet to face. The usually hygienic environment of the spaceship turned vile in a matter of hours, as it was mostly occupied by men. The mixture of body odor was absolutely deafening, even if “deafening” was hardly the proper adjective to use when describing a smell. Not one to be defeated by something as intangible as this, the Virtue pilot hung in there until afternoon. The clock was precisely 15:34:54 when he escaped the toxic fumes to the only place which logically didn’t have a smell: the showers. After all, no one had entered the area after his early error-report.

Crouching in a farthest corner of the space, Tieria made himself small and breathed in deep gulps. Yes, he’d been correct. Even if the air-recycling was involved with the water-recycling system - in ways Tieria knew about but didn’t possess the skills to make use of in correcting the error – the air in the room simply smelled a little stale compared to the rest of the ship. The humming of the air channel was also sooth- Tieria couldn’t hear the humming of the air channel. Alarmed by this, with a distant feeling of victory he couldn’t understand and so gave no further attention to, he used the intercom to inform the rest of the crew about the development, adding pronouncedly that Someone with Sufficient Skills was to Immediately take a look into the matter.

He was hardly surprised when Lockon was the one who appeared to the washing area with a tool-box in hand. Tieria jumped to his feet and tried looking like he’d been standing the whole time. Showing weakness even to Lockon was not on his appropriate-things-to-do list. The sniper offered him an easy smile. 

“Lasse is half-dead after a long night, so I didn’t want to wake him up and I doubt he knows any more about plumbing than I do. I thought I might as well take a look.” 

While glad somebody was about to do something, Tieria was somewhat doubtful of the intervention team leader’s abilities. He had six years worth of experience with the man, and Lockon Stratos had a habit of… of Improvising. While certainly a useful skill during a battle, “Figuring things out as I go” didn’t cut it when the matter concerned the whole crew’s survival. His discomfort must have shown on his face, because the man held his hands in front of himself in defense. 

“Yes, yes, I know, I know,” he said and Tieria’s brows furrowed further down. “Don’t look so doubtful! When have I disappointed my favourite critic before? Just trust me.” 

There, he kept doing that, using words which Tieria didn’t expect from him. He wanted to say he didn’t need Lockon’s strange compliments; that he could certainly do without his smart-assed comments, but Lockon’s partner Haro’s arrival cut off his train of thought and he sighed, deciding to move himself to the dressing room, where he slumped on a bench and pulled his knees to his chest. If nothing else, he could supervise this operation. How the sniper pilot was always, always able of looking at things in this annoying positive way didn’t open up to Tieria. Why would a man whose records showed no real experience in plumbing or mechanical work – aside from disassembling and reassembling weaponry – be so certain he could do something? Should Lockon fail, and while failing manage to break something for good, they would have to postpone all the near-future missions, and return to Lagrange Point 2 for maintenance. It was idiotic. It was a bad idea. Tieria was confused with himself as to why he let this farce continue. 

There was just something about that face.

 

He could hear everything. The acoustics in the white ceramic tiled room were good and so he didn’t have to go back inside to hear what was going on. It was a good thing. Just a small moment in the near-vicinity of a man who hadn’t washed himself in a whole day brought back his unneeded headache. The screech of metal when bolts were turned, the squeak of well-maintained faucets and Lockon's voice saying: “Give me that. Pass me that. No, the other one. Thanks, buddy” and ultimately carrying on a light conversation, answered to by a very chatty Haro, made him glad he’d chosen to stay where the sounds didn’t hurt his ears so much. Sometimes Tieria wondered if the orange Haro was wired differently to suit the Dynames pilot’s need for unnecessary, idle conversation, or if there was such a thing as a naturally talkative Haro.

“Now I see, fancy if it ends up being that one.” 

Lockon’s optimistic words hardly ever moved Tieria in any way, but at this moment he felt relieved and perked up to the point where he let go of his knees and sat up straight. 

“Lockon Stratos, have you located the error?” he questioned and was startled by his sharp yet hopeful voice when it echoed around the space. 

“Hold your horses, princess”, came the amused answer and this time – only this once! – Tieria was willing to let the insult fly by, as he had an inkling the man did not mean it as one, never mind his promise to never use such words when talking to him again. 

On second thought, perhaps it was better he didn’t let the comment pass. Who knew? Perhaps Lockon would take his lenient attitude as a permission to start calling him with womanly names again. He was not a woman, and wished to make certain it was remembered by the humans he was forced to work along-side of.

“I would appreciate-” he began.

“Can you get it from here or should we move closer?” the team leader started at the exact same time, making Tieria grit his teeth in annoyance. 

The nerve! Of course, he had taken too long in his answer but to have the moment slip through his fingers like this irritated him to no end. 

“Yes, I’m sorry, Tieria. It slipped." Lockon had the decency to acknowledge his ire but gave it no further importance it seemed, as he continued to Haro: "No? Okay, let’s go closer.” 

Pursing his lips, Tieria sat back with a huff. Apparently if he wanted to have the man’s full attention he was to wait until the crisis was over. It troubled him, but the stench of sweat and body-odor etching itself to the walls of Ptolemaios was a direr matter. He heard the pair moving in the shower side and then the squeaking came from a spot closer to him. He pressed his hands on his ears, even if it did hardly anything to help. 

“Okay, ready? Three two splash!” 

And certainly it sounded like a splash of water. Tieria jumped excitedly on his feet. 

“Of all the disgusting- I never get used to seeing what it looks like. There’s more, Haro, keep the bag open properly.”

 

Some years ago, after his first successful trial flight in Dynames, Lockon had once outside his Gundam caught the pink-haired communications support girl in his arms and danced around the desk like a total fool. Sumeragi had been there to monitor the experiment and Tieria had caught her laughing at the foolish sight. He had failed to understand the excitement which had made the humans laugh and act like deranged monkeys back then, but now for a moment wanted to congratulate the man in a loud voice, and perhaps grasp his hand between his. This feeling of lightening in his core was definitely one he hadn’t experienced before. They wouldn’t have to change anything! Lockon Stratos had saved his mood and VEDA’s near future missions, making it sound so easy. Yet, not knowing if it was okay for him to intrude on the man who was still working, Tieria felt a foreign feeling of indecisiveness as he stood in place. The moment of excitement passed, leaving him feeling quite, yes, stupid. To sit down again seemed equally pointless and so he begun pacing.

“Okay, let’s close it. I’m seriously starting to get cold”, came Lockon’s voice over the splashing of water. 

Half-a-minute went by and then the sound of water stopped with a too familiar lurching sound. Tieria swallowed, again uneasy, but no tell-tale curse-words followed the sound. Instead, what followed was more squeaking, when the bolts were once again turned. From that, Tieria concluded someone in the control room had been listening in on the man, much like him but far more usefully. After some time and one last grunt, Lockon's voice sounded somewhat fatigued when he said:

“Feltd, it’s okay to turn the system back on. Let’s see if it works.”

“Roger”, answered a tiny metallic girl’s voice. 

Tieria pursed his lips feeling slightly abandoned. There was hardly a need to feel so, and he proceeded to figuratively stomp on the feeling until it was unnoticeable. Lockon would address to him very soon, he was certain. While the man could be highly professional at times, it was as if engaging Tieria in one of his useless idle talks was a hobby of his, something to amuse himself with. Soon, very soon now. One of the showers inside was turned on and Tieria’s mind lightened to the point where his lips turned upwards without him paying attention.

 

“Phew! I’m glad it wasn’t anything more serious.” 

The man’s voice came from near the door, and a moment later Tieria found himself looking at a very, hot, Lockon Stratos. No, "hot" was hardly an adjective which could be used in this context. The man’s mechanic’s overall was mostly soaked through, open at the front and the wet fabric seemed to lick the man’s body. Tieria’s eyes followed the droplets of water dripping from Lockon’s hair, catching the bare skin of his muscled chest and running down-

“…Tieria? Are you listening to me or eating me with your pretty eyes?”

Startled, the Virtue pilot shot a wide-eyed look at the man’s face. He’d missed everything that the sniper had said. His body felt hot. Was he coming down with a fever? It would not be a surprise considering the germs he’d been subjected to all day. And the smell, certainly one could get sick from having to smell what he’d been forced to. What was worse, all the other men had just wrinkled their nose once and been okay with it next, while he’d wanted to throw up. 

“Just a headache”, he said, not knowing why it was so important suddenly to pretend he hadn’t been staring. “Repeat please?” 

He loathed the knowing little smile which moved Lockon’s lips. So shameless!

“You should let the doc take a look. You’ve looked worse for wear all day.” 

Tieria blinked. The sniper had noticed his torment? More importantly, did Lockon just choose to ignore the first blatant lie Tieria told him? It was obvious the man had seen through it! He was even more shameless than Tieria had thought, trying to make it seem like it was normal for Tieria to react to him this way. Couldn’t the man have just pushed a little like he always did? Tieria wanted to- he didn’t want to talk about it, but he also wanted the verbal reassurance it was okay, that it wasn’t weird, nothing he should be ashamed off – no, he refused to be ashamed of it! Certainly if he reacted to something, there was something to react to. Cause and consequence. It was all Lockon’s fault, showing up in front of him dressed up like- well, like that!

“Hey, pass me that, please,” Lockon asked, continuing to ignore Tieria’s out-of-place behavior. 

Tieria shot a look around himself and when he saw the towel Lockon meant, he blushed. 

“It’s mine,” he said, his voice coming out a little too sharp. 

The man shrugged, unfaced. 

“And? I didn’t bring a towel with me, so please let me borrow yours.” 

Tieria fidgeted. Borrowing his personal towel to Lockon didn’t appeal to him- 

“Tieria.” 

–At least not until he looked into Lockon’s eyes and forgot how to speak. He just wordlessly offered the towel to the man, who thanked him and used it to wipe his face and then his hair. Tieria had of course noticed this before, but Lockon’s hair curled even more than usual when it was wet. Usually, it was just somewhat haggard but when wet it was… curly. He felt heat on his face again and wondered if there was something permanently wrong in his body.

 

“Alright, would you like to talk about it?” 

Ah. He’d missed something again. Lockon had stopped moving, and just stood there with Tieria’s towel around his neck. He was looking at him with a somewhat frustrated look to his ocean-colored eyes. He slumped down on the bench and let his breath out in a massive sigh, massaging his throbbing temples. 

“No”, he said, “yes. I don’t know. What should I say?” 

He made a mistake of looking up and seeing Lockon had come to stand in front of him. He was a beautiful man, really. No, no. Beautiful wasn’t a word to describe a man. The correct word was, handsome, wasn’t it?

“It’s okay,” the sniper said, “I’ll listen to you. It’s not like you to circle around the subject.” 

He wasn’t being helpful at all, Tieria scowled. He was sure Lockon knew exactly what he wanted to say. He always seemed to know. It drove him up the wall, usually. 

“You look handsome”, he eventually said in a very small voice, hating himself for not being able to say what he wanted to in the way he usually would've said it, forwardly without an ounce of doubt in him. “…I like it.”

“You have the hots for me, huh?” 

When he glanced up next the man had a sort of warm smirk on his face. 

“Hots?” he repeated, at first feeling somewhat irked, but then accepting the slangish word for what it was, “It certainly feels as if my cooling system has broken. I feel hot all over.” 

At least his face was on fire and there was a strange pressure in the bottom of his stomach. The whole subject seemed strange. He had never encountered a situation like this before. It wasn’t in the manual VEDA had him learn. It was probably unimportant but right now he really wanted to tell the man. It seemed important he let him know. He felt a large hand plop on top of his hair, and when he peered up one more time- well, most of it was hidden by the hand but if he wasn’t entirely wrong, Lockon was red in the face as well. It didn’t suit him so well, Tieria thought, and wondered why Lockon was embarrassed when he was the one who was embarrassing himself.

“Um, it’s okay,” the man told him again, and he found the passion to glare at him. 

For someone usually very articulate, the sniper was definitely failing him now. 

“Pardon me, how is it okay, exactly?” he asked scathingly and the hand on top of his head moved a little, ruffling his hair, then petting it. 

“It just is. I mean I can’t blame you. I’m one hot guy and all.” 

Tieria scowled deeper. Not helpful at all! He swatted at the hand, but it returned soon enough with a heartfelt laugh from Lockon. So Tieria stopped fighting the touch and crumbled a quiet “I hate you” at the man, not understanding why it made the man laugh even more. 

“Tieria, Tieria, Tieria…” repeated the sniper in a low, resonating voice that made his heart beat faster. “You are seriously, from the bottom of my heart, the cutest person I’ve ever met.” 

While Tieria claimed it didn’t make him happy at all, it made him forgive the man for every stupid comment until then, for some strange, yet to open up reason. If he looked up, he still saw the glistening, bare chest right there within his reach and if he drew a deep breath, he could smell Lockon from this distance. It wasn’t all a bad smell, not at the moment. As if the water which had soaked him earlier had washed the more offensive smells away, leaving behind the scent of wet fabric and something musky Tieria couldn’t exactly place.

He didn’t touch. He tried not to make it obvious he was sniffing, too. All in all he tried regaining his dignity. He needed a subject, for one of those unnecessary, idle conversations Lockon liked so much. He’d never had to come up with one before but he thought he did quite a good job thinking up one. 

“How did you- Lockon Stratos! Do you have hidden talent in plumbing?” 

Perhaps it was the force of his voice, perhaps the sudden fire in his eyes when he stared at the man's face, but it made the sniper take a surprised step back. Having him at a further distance helped Tieria much in finding his own stance again. Even if he was still so very, very handsome. 

“Um, no? Not really, I mean, isn’t it logical to try and find- you know what, never mind. Yes, I have a hidden talent in it.” 

Lockon didn’t make any sense and Tieria informed him of this, earning himself one of those laughs that tickled in his stomach. Now he was certain of it. Talking to Lockon was making him sick. This way or that, he still wished to continue. For a moment more.

“Do you… Do you have any questions? About the, earlier? I mean, you don’t have any experience in this stuff, do you? If it’s someone like you then it might start bothering you, I suppose.”

“Someone like me?” Tieria was quick to pick up on that. He glared at the man out of reflex. “What do you mean, someone like me?” 

It wasn’t like him to care about what others thought of him and he didn’t! He was always quick to say what was on his mind, as unedited as possible for the maximum effect, and he never said anything he didn’t mean to say. Frankly, he was surrounded by idiots, so he treated them like idiots. They deserved nothing less. It was just that at some point, it bothered him direly that he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment, Lockon’s opinion had started to matter. Now, facing this predicament he hadn’t been able to foresee - not even VEDA had given him any warning concerning, well, physical attraction towards someone since obviously that was what Lockon meant by “hots” – Lockon was the only one he wasn’t ashamed to show his partial ignorance to. Of course it could also be because somehow Lockon seemed to know what he was thinking! But to use those words, _someone like you_. It was as if he was being made fun of, and-

“Shit,” Lockon sighed, messing up his damp hair even more by a gesture which could be read as nervous, or perhaps frustrated? Either way Tieria thought it was highly inappropriate as was the word the sniper had chosen. “I didn’t mean it that way.” 

If there was someone who had the right to be nervous or frustrated it was obviously Tieria. And he wasn’t nervous so it had to be the other. 

“What way? I would appreciate it if you stopped assuming I know what you’re thinking and gave me adjectives. Explain to me your definition of ‘someone like me’."

“Eh, adjectives?” Lockon gave him a bemused little smile and apparently decided to sit down next to him, because that's what he did the next moment. 

Either he was a coward who couldn’t face Tieria directly or his legs were tired, which meant his muscle training was insufficient. Whichever it was Tieria could once again smell him. A scent which wasn't all good but not exactly all that bad either. A hard-to-ignore scent.

“Tieria Erde, goal-driven, unforgiving, strict…” 

Tieria felt heat returning to his cheeks yet again. For some reason, though these were the traits he prided himself for, coming from Lockon he wasn’t sure if they were positive or not. Since the adjectives he would use to describe Lockon were the complete opposites. 

“Even more so with yourself than with anyone else, and though you like taking it out on other people, I can’t seem to dislike you for it. You take even the smallest errors so hard I worry about you, even if they were in the acceptable zone and-”

“There is no acceptable zone”, Tieria interrupted him darkly and the man chuckled. 

“It does make you cute, though,” he commented and the blush on Tieria’s face deepened. 

He didn’t need to hear that! Couldn’t Lockon stop joking for once-! A large hand cupped his cheek, turning his face towards the sniper. Up close and personal, the blue of Lockon’s eyes was beautiful, so beautiful, sharp but warm, inviting… 

“I’m being serious here, see? It might not make you comfortable, and it’s the first for me, with another man that is, but I’m attracted to you, too.”

“What are the odds of physical attraction being returned?” Tieria asked breathlessly. 

He licked his lips as his eyes followed a trickle of water down the man’s strangely attractive nose, how it settled his upper lip, how it seemed to melt into Lockon’s lips as they moved. 

“Universally? Good, if one looks like you. Couldn’t give you the exact percentage for the life of me.” 

There was a certain tightness to that voice but Tieria figured it was because their proximity to each other. He made a decision without relying on VEDA for backup. 

“I don’t need those”, he said and brought his lips carefully to Lockon’s to have a taste of him.


End file.
